I have two Nissan Leaf a 2019 & a 2020 SATISFACTION!!!!!

1. We love our 2 2019 Leaf Pluses. Very reliable cars.

 

I had a series of Leaf's and was entirely happy with them apart from going (not especially) long distances. My last Leaf was a 2018 SV with the 40kW battery. I learned early that it was not suitable for long distance driving as the battery doesn't have thermal management. At each DCFC stop it would take more and more time to charge until it became somewhat ridiculous.

At the first opportunity I reserved an Ariya and selected the largest battery as possible because I wanted to drive long distances with the least amount of problems and knew the battery would have thermal management and charge a lot quicker than the Leaf.

If I didn't want to be able to travel long distances I would have simply kept my Leaf as it was faultless around town.

There IS a lot more tech and bells and whistles on the Ariya. Driving it is a big step up from the Leaf. As much as I like all the extra stuff, I actually would have preferred a model with less stuff but with the larger battery and costing a lot less.

I'm planning to drive across Canada so I will soon find out the reality of long distance driving with the Ariya. I hope that I'm not disappointed.

 

I am on my second Leaf. A 40kwh S. It has been a great car. The Leaf has had a horrible existence. The battery packs in the first two years were woefully fragile with regard to shortened lives from not being able to withstand heat. Nissan fumbled the ball by not replacing the defective packs insisting instead that the affect owners buy new cars! They were mercilessly attacked by trolls after this even when by 2018 the battery packs were completely reliable although as as DJP noted not really great for long trips. This being said I've had zero overheating issues with my longest trips only being a little over 200km.

I've called the Leaf the "Rodney Dangerfield" of EVs owing to his famous line "Can't get no respect". Nissan has put no effort into even a small upgrade such as switching to CCS charging. I've often wondered if Nissan treats the Leaf as Carlos Ghosn's baby and just wants to put it in the past. As happy as I am with my Leaf I acknowledge that both the Leaf and the Bolt are yesterday's cars in terms of technical obsolescence. I use my newest vehicles for business and usually move them along after taking 4 years of depreciation as a business expense. Although my 2018 is in great shape I would love to trade up now but nothing is available. I am told everywhere "You can give us a deposit to get on the wait list for next year". No thanks.

I am hoping that by next year the supply chains will be working better along with better selection and pricing. At the moment it's looking like: a Chevy Equinox, model Y (if price comes down), the Ariya, VW id4 if they get over their software issues. Also since my next vehicle may be my last I'll take a look at the Cadillac Lyric which I must say is a handsome vehicle. After a lifetime of Spartan vehicles the old man may splurge a little.

 

I own a 2020 Nissan Leaf Plus. I purchased it in 2021 with 19k miles. I now have 56k and this car has been super reliable. A big upgrade from my 2016 Volt Premier.

Only reason I wouldn't recommend it these days is due to the ChaDeMo connector, that's being phased out in the US.

I purchased a J+ Booster just for it's selectable charging amperage. I like to charge at 12 amps (40 amps to 8 amps). The original EVSE charges at 32 amps and isn't variable.


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I impulse purchased a 2018 SL the other day. It was a single owner (local lady) with only 17,400 miles on it. Garage kept and flawless paint and interior. Barely a hint she ever sat in it.
So the impulse was the result of me suddenly deciding to dip my toes in the EV pond with as little risk as possible.
And I feel it was an amazing bargain to boot! Seemed to be priced as if it was no different than a base model, yet it has every option available to the SL, short the bigger battery/motor.

My 3rd day to commute to work and back. I'm having a ball. So quiet. Smooth. And the E-pedal is a hoot. The Adaptive Cruise and Lane Centering is much more refined than I expected for the technology era.

Came with the Nissan L1L2 portable charger, so I'm just trickle charging (1.4KW) every night to get it to ~80% from the mid 40's by the time I get home from the office.

My plan is to use the Leaf to keep the commute miles off my 2022 KingRanch Powerboost F150. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it for now.

Anyways, relative to the OP question, I wouldn't know why the Leaf gets discussed or not compared to other EVs, since I admittedly knew almost nothing about them until a week ago. But after binge researching for a few days, I'm even more pleased to find that they are very reliable cars, short of the infamous battery concerns.

 

Good summary of a Leaf. Yes, I've owned 3, the latest was a 2018 SV. When I bought my first one, a 2015 SV, I wondered, because it was one of the first EV's on the market, whether Nissan made sure that it was well engineered. My family still is using a 2016 SV and I moved onto an Ariya.

 

I love my Leaf too. She is reliable. Has just enough accessories, and she is paid for


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Lol...I just bought a 2017 Leaf SV....on line no less and picked it up in Toronto yesterday and drove it home 372km to Kingsville, Ontario.
What an impressive little car! 114,000km and still has warranty left on the HV battery pack until May 2025.
We bought it to replace our 2016 Toyota Rav4 which we are selling...we are now an all EV family....we have our 2022 Ioniq5 AWD for travel (after yesterday I can confirm the Leaf is just not suited to long road trips - especially in cold weather) and the Leaf is now our "Gopher" car!
I absolutely love the Leaf...very comfy, handles great and not overly techy.
I totally agree the Leaf does not get the respect it deserves!
Mike

 

My first Leaf was a 2015 S (no DCFC --who needs that?!). Someone in my family got into an accident just 6 months after I bought it and it was a write-off. So I was an early supplier for the spare parts industry. I wonder every now and again what happened with the 24kW battery. Lucky for me I had ICBC replacement insurance and at the time there weren't any S's in stock so got an upgrade to a SV with the CHAdeMO port! I soon found out the benefit of DCFCing